Hello, and welcome to The Chronicles of Trevor's...
.Please note that TCoT is not responsible for any "I" injuries resulting from these movie reviews.
Tonight, I'm going to review, as in-depth as I can, the movies that have gotten sequels, and analyze some scenes that stuck with me.
This includes
- the rest of the Toy Story films, and Lightyear
- The Incredibles and Incredibles II
- the Cars trilogy, and
-Finding Nemo, and Finding Dory.
Check out my Toy Story review here!
Now let's get this thing started, shall we?
Starting with...
Toy Story 2 (1999)
This is film I used to own on a THX-Certified VHS, that I had in a box that also contained Eyewitness videos.
This is the sequel to the greatest CGI film of all time. This adventurous film gives us more backstory about everyone's favorite animated cowboy, Woody. He is said to be the star of a black-and-white kid's program from the 50s, called "Woody's Roundup", a puppet show that ended on a cliffhanger. Because of this, toy collector Al, who is the owner and operator of the most popular toy store in the area, Al's Toy Barn (which was referenced as a small detail in the 1st movie, as the store advertised in an ad for the Buzz Lightyear action figure, announced by an announcer with a Scottish accent).
But I digress. The movie, and therefore, Act I, starts with Superman (1978) styled credits, complete with loud whooshes, and a long action sequence, parodying the Star Wars™ series, which, thirteen years later, sans 1977's A New Hope, would be acquired by Disney. A New Hope was still owned by 20th Century Fox in perpetuity. 20th Century Fox would later be acquired in 2019 by the Mouse as well, and renamed to the corporate-sounding 20th Century Studios in 2020.
But again, I digress. This Star Wars parody would later pan out to reveal a game that Rex the Dino is playing that's surprisingly running on a Super Nintendo. I don't think the Super FX chip could handle that level of 3D imagery. Woody is seen looking for his cowboy hat so that Andy can bring him to cowboy camp. This scene also gave us the classic meme image of Buzz telling Woody that he's okay.
After a bit of foreshadowing with an Al's Toy Barn commercial ('I despise that chicken'), Slinky Dog arrives with Woody's hat, and the bad news that Buster, the dog from the first movie, a cute little Dachsund, is entering Andy's room. He quickly leaves, after Andy arrives, and after 5-minutes of play time before cowboy camp, Woody's arm rips due to being stuck to Buzz's, and Andy keeps Woody home to keep from ripping it off fully. Andy's mother puts the ripped sheriff toy on the top shelf, with a Magic 8 Ball and a teething tower.
After a bit of foreshadowing with an Al's Toy Barn commercial ('I despise that chicken'), Slinky Dog arrives with Woody's hat, and the bad news that Buster, the dog from the first movie, a cute little Dachsund, is entering Andy's room. He quickly leaves, after Andy arrives, and after 5-minutes of play time before cowboy camp, Woody's arm rips due to being stuck to Buzz's, and Andy keeps Woody home to keep from ripping it off fully. Andy's mother puts the ripped sheriff toy on the top shelf, with a Magic 8 Ball and a teething tower.
A week later, Andy gets ready to play with Woody, forgetting he's broken, giving us one of the most horrifying scenes to come out of any animated film. After Andy remembers about Woody's ripped arm, the latter imagines himself falling through the floor, into an Ace of Spades, and finally in a trashcan filled with severed toy limbs. Woody calls for Andy in this imagination, but the pile of toy gore grows sentient and grabs him, choking him in the process. Andy says bye, in a creepy singsong-esque way, reminiscent of the "Freddy's Coming For You" song. Pretty disturbing for a G-rated film, amirite?
It turns out that it was all a dream. Waking up from this horror movie of a nightmare, he accidentally hits a book leaning up against another book, where a squeaky penguin toy named Wheezy resides. He was another one of Andy's favorite toys, but his squeaker box broke, and as such, he got "shelved" as well. The dust has made him sick with a cold, and is hacking up a lung.
Woody notices that Andy's mother is having a yard sale (I LOVE yard sales, because you never know what you're gonna find), and as such, alerts the other toys into starting emergency procedures. Wheezy gets taken by Andy's mom, who is unironically kind of a good-looker, as with all Pixar moms. Just saying. Woody, just then, comes up with a plan, to get Wheezy back, by riding Buster in a stealthy way to bring him back up to the room. Unfortunately, Woody falls off of the dog, as if he were bull-riding. Wheezy does return to the room. Some of the other toys thought he was selling himself for 25¢, aka committing "suicide" (extremely dark comedy for a G-rated film, btw), but unfortunately, Woody is seen by a blonde girl, and a mysterious geeky man. The latter grabs him and takes him, by fancy sea-foam green 60s hot rod, to an apartment building in the Tri-County Area's city that has a rule on its doors "No Children Allowed". Buzz grabs on to the moving car, via exhaust pipe, and tries in its trunk. Buzz falls and bounces off the road, complete with beeping and buzzing sounds. The man, who is Al, by the way, doesn't seem like a senior citizen, and it isn't a 55+ Community, so I don't know why such apartment complexes would have that rule if they weren't for ages 55+. I guess that was put in for a plot-progression scene that wasn't included, where a security officer thinks the toys are a sign that rogue kids have entered, and throws the plastic beings out (or as many call it, a plot hole). Buzz finds a clue to the mystery, a license plate reading "LZTYBRN", and some feathers.
Act II (no, not the popcorn brand, even though they make my favorite microwave popcorn) begins with a Courtroom mystery-styled set where Piggy Bank and Etch-A-Sketch® are seen giving a presentation about the whereabouts of Woody, fittingly above a box for the 1st version of the game Clue®. They figure out that the license plate means "Al's Toy Barn", and ask Etch to draw the man in a chicken outfit. Piggy Bank says, "I knew there was something I didn't like about that chicken", as a nod to his foreshadowing beforehand. The scene cuts to Al in a chicken suit, telling Woody, in a glass display box will make him "big buck, buck, bucks". He then says that he hates driving all the way to work on Saturdays, when his work is just across the street from the apartment that he lives at! What a silly joke! He drove their to get ready to shoot a commercial, which is being produced by a company called Tri-County Mobile Video, which has a really cool logo.
While Al makes the ad, Woody tries to escape from the apartment, until a box opens. The box contains a toy horse named Bullseye, a cowgirl doll named Jessie, who kinda reminds me of my cousin Kaylee, alongside a unopened Stinky Pete the Prospector toy. Jessie, upon seeing Woody, gives him a noogie (a playful greeting where the deliverant grinds on the head of the receivant using their knuckles, usually hard, but not enough to cause pain), and tells Woody about Stinky Pete. These toys are talking toys that, when they're string is pulled, they say one of multiple phrases. Stinky Pete's box says that he has 9 different sayings. These toys tell Woody of an in-universe black-and-white 1950's kids' television program called Woody's Roundup, which was a popular show sponsored by a cereal called Cowboy Crunchies. This is the case for old children's programming, as they were always sponsored by cereal companies. Back to the movie, Woody is seen in awe looking at a whole area filled with the show's merchandise, such as a record player, a game where you can knock the teeth off of a giant Woody face (if I were to play it, I'd leave two front teeth, making him have buck-teeth, since he is a cowboy and all), a thermos, a radio, and other things. He even seen some Time, Life, and TV Guide magazine covers from that time, and said 'Wow'. After that realization, the Roundup Gang watch the complete show on VHS (remember those?!). The show's albeit catchy theme describes everyone's favorite cowboy as "the rootin'est tootin'est cowboy in the wild, wild west."
Act III takes us back to Andy's toys, who are flipping through the channels in the Tri-County Area, such as Fox 43, NBC 10, CBS 8, and ABC 7. OK, I made that up, but I digress. All of these stations all seem to be airing Pixar shorts. But FOX 43, (I made that up again), is airing an ad for Al's Toy Barn, and Etch-A-Sketch® is seen drawing the map from the commercial. Buzz and the gang are seen preparing for the long journey through the tri-county area, looking for Woody.
Act IV shows us back at Al's apartment, where the Roundup Gang are finishing their binge-watch of Woody's Roundup that started in Act II. They're on the episode where the Prospector lights up dynamite in an old abandoned mine thinking it's a candle with a fast-burning wick. Worried that they'd be blown to smithereens, Woody comes to the rescue, but in the middle of the way, the show pauses, asking if Woody will ever get to them on time, and telling them to tune in next week. Turns out the series got cancelled after that episode, so the show ended on a cliffhanger. You can say that the show ended horribly, much like the way The Sopranos did. The reason for the cancellation was because of the popularity of the ongoing space race between the US and the USSR; networks were more interested in science-fiction shows in space, after the launch of the Sputnik satellite. After playing on the record player, and making the record play at 78 speed, Jessie and Pete tell Woody that they're going to the Konishi toy museum in Japan, and they'll only accept the Woody's Roundup toys if they're complete. This leaves Woody in a tough situation, does Woody go to the Land of the Rising Sun, leaving Buzz and the gang behind, or does he go back, leaving the other Roundup Gang members to stay in storage forever? While grabbing Woody to put him in a picture with the other Roundup toys, Al unfortunately pulls a seam loose on Woody's arm, causing it to fall off completely! He calls a man to fix it, saying he'll come first thing in the morning.
Act V begins with Buzz and the gang on their journey to get buzz back, giving a rousing speech, set to a tune that changes into "The Star-Spangled Banner" midway through, as a sleek segue into the next scene at Al's apartment, as a late-night sign-off, with an announcer saying "And that concludes our broadcast day". But also, WHY does Al have a black-and-white TV in 1999? I'd get that if it were the UK, where in order to watch the BBC, you'd have to pay around £60 (in 1999 pounds) annually as part of the TV Licensing fee. (Here in the US, we don't have TV licenses, and our equivalent public broadcaster, PBS, is funded voluntarily) Back to TS2, Woody is seen trying to get his arm back from Al, who is sleeping. Bullseye is seen licking the Cheetos® dust off of Al's hand. Al was presumably watching the 11:00 news, while eating cheese curls. After trying to get his arm back, Woody is disgusted by a burp that Al let out. Jessie, out of protest, clicks a remote button, turning Woody's show on, waking up Al. This results in wrasslin' between cowboy vs cowgirl. Pete broke the fight up, saying that the cleaner will fix him up.
Act VI begins with Buzz and friends FINALLY going into Al's Toy Barn. but to enter, they need to cross the road, but unfortunately, they cause a major traffic kerfuffle, due to disguising as traffic cones. Mr. Potato Head even got gumshoed, and a streetlight fell, causing its bulb to break. Over at Al's apartment, A cleaner comes in, an old man, looking EXACTLY like Geri from Geri's Game, another Pixar production. The toys enter a closed Al's Toy Barn (or ATB, from here on out), by stomping on the automatic door's pressure plate all at once. Rex finds a strategy guide for the impossible-to-release Buzz Lightyear Super Nintendo game from the beginning of Act I (Buzz Lightyear: Attack on Zurg), published by a Bolted Set Press. I guess BSP is similar to Primo or BradyGames, in terms of how they publish strategy guides for video games. But I digress, Woody is still in the apartment, being cleaned by the Geri doppelgänger. He's getting some finishing touches, such as a clear varnish coat on his eyes, a restitching of his broken arm, and brown paint to remove the "ANDY" writing on his boot. The music fits, having a "Powerhouse (B)" vibe, while also being more string-based, fitting the elderly man's craftiness like a glove.
After a funny scene transition ("He's just like new!" into a "NEW!" sign at ATB, which Buzz comes in from the side of the screen), we see Buzz come across more Buzz action figures, with a New Utility Belt, in their own aisle. This new belt comes from the Buzz Lightyear: Attack on Zurg game. The gang comes across a Power Wheels car and rides around looking for Woody. The Buzz we all know and love tries to tell a new Buzz that he isn't the real Buzz Lightyear, and is an action figure replica, like Woody told him before. The Buzzes fight each other, culminating in the beltless Buzz being shoved face first into a peg-board, like being frozen in Carbonite in Star Wars.
Meanwhile, the toys go down the Barbie aisle, where we see the FIRST appearance of Barbie in a full-length feature film. Pixar made a Barbie film before it was cool. Sorry, Greta Gerwig. But I hope her 2024 Netflix Narnia adaptation with Entertainment One comes out good!
But I digress. Barbie helps out on the journey to find Woody, bing the tour guide for ATB.
After we get introduced to Barbie, we see the beltless Buzz getting put into a Buzz Lightyear box by the other Buzz, and put into a shelf containing other Buzzes in the Buzz Lightyear aisle, which doesn't make sense, since the Buzz figures in the Buzz Lightyear aisle are the 2nd batch of Buzz toys containing the new utility belt, so imagine a Buzz Lightyear fan wanting a new, belted Buzz, but getting an original Buzz that he probably already has, but in a box probably marked as being the "NEW UTILITY BELT!" version.
Barbie and the others pick up Buzz, who isn't the actual Buzz, but the wrong, belted Buzz, in order to get to Al, to find Woody and bring him back to Andy.
Act VII begins with photos of Woody being Faxed to Japan by Al, who is back at his apartment ready to leave. Jessie later reveals that she had a kid that took care of her, named Emily. Emily later caught up on trends, like makeup, and hanging out and dancing with her actual friends. This culminates in another tear-jerker of a song, "When She Loved Me", about togetherness and a relationship that stopped being. It was perfored by Sarah McLachlan, and always makes me shed a tear or two. It hits different today, knowing that tomorrow, my cousin Kaylee is leaving to go back to Texas, because of some family stuff that I'd rather not talk about here.
But back to the film. That is one of the saddest songs in ANY movie EVER, especially for it to be in a G-rated film. I think that this song could've won some awards for this masterpiece. after this and the hard decision to keep the Roundup Gang together, we learn that the Toy Story series' theme "You Got a Friend in Me" was actually in-universe, the closing song of the "Woody's Roundup" program.
Also, after the scene where Woody decides to stay to go to Japan, to comfort Jessie, the other Toys reappear to bring Woody back, all while Rex thinks he's in that Buzz Lightyear SNES game, but due to the new outlook of Woody, he tells the toys to go back. All of this adventuring for nothing. But those toys aren't done yet: The toys go to the airport to get the Roundup Gang, still together, and make it so Andy now has some NEW TOYS! This culminates into a singing dance party! Pixar pulling a DreamWorks and Illumination BEFORE it was cool! Wheezy the Penguin sings a reprise of You Got A Friend In Me, until the credits roll, containing animated bloopers, one being a cameo featuring Flik and Heimlich from A Bug's Life, talking about tricking Pixar into making A Bug's Life 2, which was the actual cameo itself!
Overall, I really enjoyed this film. The animation quality has improved quite a bit since the 1st film, especially with the plasticity of the toys themselves, and smoother movements. I also really enjoyed the soundtrack. The movie had a greater rewatch value than the first in terms of plot, even though I like the 1st one about the same!
10/10
Pros: Improved animation, emotional scenes, and steadily-moving plot.
Cons: None!
Toy Story 3 (2010)
Andy is going to college, and the toys wonder what will become of them in this G-rated adventure-comedy thrill ride! The toys encounter new faces at Sunnyside Daycare, introducing plush toys to the series!
The film opens with a more cinematic spaghetti-western-style mashup of the first 2 movies' openings, now featuring the classic's LGM's and Mrs. Potato Head™ and the full Roundup Gang!
The train containing the trolls (the same trolls that the DreamWorks movie is based off of), has the number 95, a reference to Lightning McQueen!
The whole thing changes to Andy playing with his toys in a home movie made by his family, complete with realistic VHS effects, and scanlines!
While the home movies roll, the theme song of the series plays yet again!
One scene in this opening really fits what a lot of kids, including myself, liked to do, watch TV with their toys lined up watching with them. I find it funny how Andy gave Rex a piece of popcorn from his bowl of it.
The home video footage cuts off after the lyric "our friendship will never die...", presumably foreshadowing the plot of the movie.
Andy, now a teen, is heading off to college, and as such, doesn't need his toys anymore.
Andy puts Woody in the College box and the other toys in a trash bag, to go into the attic. Andy's mom, still a good-looker after 10 years (XD LOL), mistakes Andy's attic bag for trash, and puts it out on the curb. Woody tries to ride Buster to get the toys, but since a decade has past, and he's gone old, he's slow and tired, so Woody has to do it himself, jumping out of the COLLEGE box.
I just have to say the animation of this film looks even better than 1 and 2, and the toy plasticity factor is even better. I even enjoy what they did with the lighting effects! They really perfected the RenderMan and Marionette animation systems with this film!
Jessie said that she "should've seen this coming" and that it's "Emily ALL over again", as a slight nod to the "When She Loved Me" scene, but later on came up with the idea of going to Sunnyside. But woody knows all about daycare, for some unspecified reason. I thought Mr. Potato Head would ALREADY KNOW that Daycare was a horrible place for toys to begin with, because of baby Molly banging him on her crib and slobbering on him in the 1st movie.
"Ages 3 and up, it's on my box, AGES 3 AND UP!"-Mr. Potato Head, 1995
At daycare, we see new toys, like a plush Care Bear clone named Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear, who smells of strawberries, a Ken doll, and a stuffed hedgehog named Mr. Pricklepants. The daycare is led by an extremely creepy cymbal-crashing monkey that screams bloody murder and crashes his cymbals over the P.A. system whenever things aren't right. (Imagine doing that in real life. That would be actual ear rape!)
This movie also has some goofy scenes, such as Barbie and Ken's various scenes, and the accidental language switch from English to Spanish that Buzz Lightyear experiences.
I give this film a 10/10.
Pros: Animation is extraordinary, great attention to detail, humor on point.
Cons: Cymbal Crashing Monkey. Just That. Kinda Scary for a G-rated film.
I really enjoyed the ending where Andy gives his toys to a girl named Bonnie, who would be the kid that would be their owner in:
Toy Story 4 (2019), a G-rated (as usual) action-adventure comedy. The movie features the toys of Bonnie, as they go on an action-packed road trip to a carnival. Bonnie starts Kindergarten, and makes a handcrafted toy out of a plastic fork, some Play-Doh, pipe cleaners,
and a Popsicle stick, named Forky. Forky kinda reminds me of Stick Stickly, the old mascot for Nickelodeon's Saturday night block, SNICK.
Bo Peep gets found and put into an antiques store, so Woody and the others try to get her back, but Forky's unexpected antics hold them back, so they split up to get Bo Peep back. Helping them on their way is an 1980s Canadian Evel Knievel toy named Duke Caboom, who was advertised as a stunt toy that would always land, but was recalled due to false advertising. The animation in this film, especially the stop-motion-like style of Forky's mouth movement really make this one extraordinary!
9.5/10
Pros: Animation, Characters, Plot, and Music.
Cons: Slow progression.
Here's my idea of a good Toy Story 5 plot. Andy, at age 35 and Bonnie, at age 22, get married, and have twins, a son, Andy Jr. and a daughter, Tracy. They remember all of the fun they had playing with the toys and feel nostalgic, and 5 years later, go back to give their kids, the toys they played with when they were younger, alongside that goofball Forky. This would be a plot I'd pitch to Pixar, considering the 1995 movie is nostalgic to many people, and a Toy Story film using the feeling of nostalgia as a plot point could be a money-making idea for the dynamic duo of Disney-Pixar.
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The Chronicles of Trevor is in no way affiliated with Pixar Animation Studios, The Walt Disney Company, or any of the other companies mentioned in this post.
The Chronicles of Trevor is and always will be owned and operated by Trevor Hart.
All this legalese is making me tired. My next SuperPOST™ will feature Lightyear and the Cars trilogy, and will arrive on TCoT this Sunday!
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